


The Middle Man

by TangentDreams2



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Comfort, Friendship, Gaming, Gen, One-Sided Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:22:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24586798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TangentDreams2/pseuds/TangentDreams2
Summary: Yet again, Sonic has left his best friend, Tails to deal with Amy while he runs away. Feeling sorry for the girl, Tails allows Amy to hang out with him.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	The Middle Man

**Author's Note:**

> Sonic: 18  
> Amy: 15  
> Tails: 11

"Yes!" The blue hedgehog cheered with both fists above his head after winning against his best friend for the fifth time in a row.

"Argh! How do you keep winning?!" Tails growled, slumping forward and dropping the controller in his hands for his face to take it's place.

He ran his hands down his face, wiping away his frustration. No matter how much research the young fox looked up on the game, TomatoPotamus2; game tutorials, playthroughs and forums, his level of skill couldn't surpass Sonic's. After two hours of ranking the levels with the hedgehog, he could only manage to reach level twelve before suffering a humiliating defeat to the blue blur.

Satisfied with their gaming session, Sonic got up from his seat beside his best friend on the sofa and threw down his controller on the plump cushion. "Better luck next time, Buddy."

"Seriously?" Tails slouched against the back of the sofa. "Were you even trying?"

Of course he hadn't been trying. Not that Tails needed to know that. "Are you kidding? I gave that all I've got! You're getting good, Tails. With a little more practice, you may actually beat my high score."

"Yeah... Practice." Tails mumbled to himself, not buying into Sonic's egotistical ways of reassurance. It was hardly like he could get any practice in. The NPC's were never much of a challenge, their friends were always too busy for gaming and Sonic... Well, when he did stop running and sat down long enough to play, he won. So much so, he didn't expect to lose.

His high score was forever going to haunt the fox.

"Sonic?!" A feminine, oh so cheerful voice that brought the blue hedgehog's anxiety on blast came from the workshop below them, slowly making it's way to them.

That same anxiety activated within the older male. His eyes widening in surprise and darting towards the direction of Amy's voice. Nah, he was not in the mood for that today. "Gotta dash, Pal." He dashed to the window and opened it.

"What are you doing?!" Tails whispered.

"Escaping. What's it look like?" Sonic whispered back.

"You can't just leave now! Amy's come to see you, not me!"

With half of his body already hanging out the window, it was clear that Sonic did not intend on entertaining the pink hedgehog. "Just tell her I'm not here."

"Sonic--"

"Dude, when you signed up to be my best friend, you automatically signed the 'Bail out your Bro', code. All you gotta do is tell her I'm not here and she'll leave you to whatever you do when I'm not around."

"But--"

"Sonic?!" Amy could be heard coming up the stairs, panicking the blue male. He threw the rest of his body to the outside of the window and hung onto the exterior window sill.

"You got this, Tails." He told the fox before letting go of the window sill and kicking himself off the wall and into the trees below.

Just as his best friend left him to deal with his loyal follower, the pink hedgehog in question knocked on the door. She shortly let herself in and looked around the room. Failing to see her beloved Sonic, her merry mood seemed to deflate. Her eyes soon fell on the young boy on the sofa. Despite her obvious disappointment, the girl forced a smile on her face.

"Hi Tails. Is Sonic not here?" She asked. Her question was more like small talk. She was already aware the blue boy was no longer in radius of the workshop.

At first, the words stuttered out of his mouth. While he was willing to save his friend the trouble of dealing with his own problems, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl. The saddened and disheartened look in her eyes broke through her happy facade.

A dramatic change in spirit compared to when she first made her presence known.

Chaos. How many times did he have to be the one to deal with this? It was all good for Sonic to just bailed out on Amy like many times before and leave him with the job of letting her down **,** but he wasn't the one who had to watch their friend, so full of energy and enthusiasm to simply be in the same room as him, wilt in the misery of not seeing him.

Especially when both he and Amy herself were aware of Sonic deliberately avoiding her.

"Uh, sorry, Amy. Sonic's gone for a run." The words finally managed to leave his lips. Just as he anticipated, her spirits sunk. Ears drooping subsequently to his words.

Nevertheless, Amy once again put on the fake smile and nodded enthusiastically back at the fox. "Oh, well... Maybe I'll catch him next time." She turned back to the door. "Sorry for bothering you, Tails. I'll see myself out."

Knowing Amy, she was probably going to go home and be in a state of forlorn. Ugh, the guilt was eating away at him. She looked as though she had spent awhile on looking her best for Sonic; choosing a red romper with long sleeves that fell off her shoulders. A belt made from the same material as the dress wrapped around her small waist, drawing minor attention to her rounding hips that were covered by the flaring skirt. For shoes, she had white wedged heels that Tails could only assume were uncomfortable to walk in.

He looked up at her, seeing just how much effort she really put into her appearance for their blue friend. She had clipped her quills into an updo, allowing two of them to fall on either side of her face. A shimmering substance had been applied on her eyelids, just as there had been another shimmering substance on her lips.

It was cute. Much like her usual style. All the while attempting to bring the maturity out.

All that effort couldn't be wasted just because Sonic would rather run from his own business. "Hey Amy?" He stopped her just as she was about to enter the hall way.

"Hmm?" She dipped her head back into the living room.

"You can always stay and wait for him?" He couldn't help but smirk to himself. Now Sonic had no choice but to face his own problems for a change. Would he lose his bro privileges? Most likely. But hey, it would be worth it to see his best friend's face when he saw Amy here.

Her mood instantly lit up again. "Really?!" She beamed with delight.

"Sure. I'm sure he'll be back soon."

Overjoyed, Amy walked back into the room and sat beside the fox. She placed a basket he had not realised she was carrying, on the coffee table in front of them. "Since Sonic's not here to enjoy these, I guess you can have some with me instead." She smiled at her friend and lifted the kitchen towel that had been protecting the baked goods beneath.

The sweet aroma of chocolate tickled his nose. Intrigued, Tails leaned forward to see what she had made. The devilishly stodgy brownies sat in the basket. Their silky, rich outer layer beckoned him to try them.

"Help yourself." She assured him, smiling brightly as she took one for herself.

He didn't need much persuading. Two hours of sheer concentration on a game left him rather hungry. The fox grabbed a brownie and took a small bite.

And transcended to a heavenly realm of chocolate. So gooey and fudgy, yet simultaneously being so easy to swallow. Yes, betraying Sonic over brownies was now definitely worth it and he'd happily do it again for another one.

Before he realised it, he had already finished the brownie. A hint of disappointment washed over him. He hadn't fully savoured the moment.

"My. You must have been pretty hungry." She laughed at the boys face now covered in crumbs and smudged chocolate. "If I had known, I would have bought more treats round."

Embarrassed, Tails blushed and quickly wiped his mouth into the back of his glove. Looking down at the now messy fabric on his hand, he decided to take them off and discarded them on the table. "Yeah. We had a pretty gruelling gaming session--" He stopped himself at the end of his sentence. Oh boy, he wasn't really helping his bro out of trouble this time.

Amy's eyes wandered down to the controller beside her. She then looked to see Tails's own controller on the arm of the sofa. Ah, so Sonic had been here moments before she entered. Looking to the open window, she worked out Sonic's escape plan.

She knew he had bailed on her, but to see his escape route and knowing he only left because of her, it hurt. What had she done wrong? She only wanted to give him her basket of brownies, maybe see his reaction to said brownies and she would have been on her merry way. Why was he always avoiding her?

Was she that much of a nuisance that he had to take the window to escape from her?

"Amy?" Tails looked at her with empathy, knowing she had figured out Sonic's escape and was now questioning her own petulance.

Once again, Amy forced a smile on her face. It seemed she was used to doing that. "Sounds pretty gruelling if Sonic needed a run straight after. Must've caused a lot of pent up energy." She exhaled a false laughter. Trying to take her mind away from her beloved, Amy looked to the TV screen. She suddenly gasped. "Is that TomatoPotamus2?!"

"You play this game?" He asked, completely taken back by this discovery.

"Do I play it?! I'm regional champion!" She boasted.

Regional Champion? "Wait. You're not..." He gasped. The walkthroughs and secrets he had been watching and trying to reflect in his own play style was from Amy?! "You're not ProdigyRose, are you?"

"Uh, duh!"

Of course! How could he not figure that out sooner? Her own name was in her gamer tag. Oh this was fantastic! Not only was Amy a gamer, she was the most skilled player in the region! Even more skilled than Sonic. Heck, she had outranked Sonic's high score by a staggering ten thousand points.

Sonic had denied caring about his score being second place. That didn't stop him from attempting to beat ProdigyRose's score while trying to boost his own. If he knew he had lost to Amy of all people, he'd never live it down.

Oh this was just too good to believe.

"I can't believe you're the regional champion! How did you get such a high score? There's only twenty eight levels and nobody's managed to pass one hundred and fifty thousand points."

Amy looked at him strangely. "Twenty eight levels? Who told you that?"

He blushed with embarrassment again. Was that not the case? "I've never seen anybody surpass level twenty eight. The game just ends."

"The fake ending ends there." She informed him. "If you want to _really_ know how to play, we can play together?"

"Yeah, sure!" He agreed almost immediately. He reactivated the controller from their idle statuses and allowed Amy to sign herself into the system. Getting comfortable, the girl removed her heels and crossed her legs on the sofa.

For the first few rounds, their playthrough didn't seem any different to how he and Sonic would play. Just as he had been when playing with Sonic, Tails was easily destroyed by the pink hedgehog. He looked over at her a few times, seeing her severely concentrated expression. She was in her zone, too focused to even acknowledge the fox.

Soon reaching level six, he could see Amy had pressed two buttons on her controller at the same time. From his peripheral vision, it seemed it was the 'B' and 'Y' buttons. A pink bubble appeared on the screen, asking for a combination of buttons. This left Tails perplexed. He had never seen that before.

Amy put in the combination and subsequently activated the bonus round. "What?" Tails gawped at the screen.

"Watch and learn, fox boy." She said with a cocky attitude.

She aced through the bonus round, bringing her score from a mere three thousand points, to ten thousand. Tails slumped back on the sofa, bemused by her ability to rank up so easily. His highest score on level six was two thousand, five hundred.

"What's Sonic's highest score?" She asked, her eyes never leaving the screen.

"Hundred and fifty thousand." Tails told her.

The girl scoffed. "That's cute." She smirked. "How about we make that your new high score? Or better yet, make yours a hundred and fifty **one** thousand, just to mess with him?"

There was no doubt she was just as cocky as Sonic when it came to gaming. But hey, if she was willing to help him bring Sonic down from his high horse, she could be as cocky as she wanted. "Let's do it." Tails grinned with determination.

With her guidance and sharing some inside secrets, the pair reached level twenty eight. Her score was already at one hundred and seventy thousand and his at one hundred and thirty eight thousand.

"Alright, Tails. You have one chance to type this combo in. You ready?" She asked him, biting her lip and squinting her eyes in her concentration.

Ready to beat Sonic and smack the smug off his face? Oh yeah, he was more than ready. "Yeah!" He slammed the 'A' button along with the down button. A yellow bubble appeared on his screen, asking for a combination.

"Now! A,B,B, down, X, right. Up, Up, B, LB, RB, A, Y, X, B!"

He almost destroyed the buttons from the vigorous smashing. Successfully entering the combination, the entered another realm with five extra bonus levels and a boss battle.

"Ha! Try and beat this Sonic!" Tails cheered with excitement.

"Destroy his score, Tails!" Amy encouraged him.

The pair leaned forward on the sofa and put all their concentration and skill into boosting their own scores. After making it through the bonus levels, the pair tag teamed to destroy the boss.

"We've got this, Tails."

"You bet!"

The enemy was close to being defeated. With the boss level completed, they would both receive an extra twenty thousand points added to the score they earned in the bonus rounds. All of which would go toward their final scores.

Amy gripped onto the controller tightly as the final blow was left to Tails. Filled with pent up spirit, the girl cheered her friend on excitedly. "You got this! Destroy him!"

Slamming his finger down on the 'A' button, Tails let out a roar as the final attack killed the boss. Their scores appeared on the screen and their bonus points were added. With Amy's score hitting two hundred and ten thousand and Tails hitting one hundred and ninety thousand, the pair jumped up from their seats and performed victory dances, both cheering and screaming with delight.

"I beat Sonic! I actually beat Sonic!" Tails pumped his fist into the air.

"Forget Sonic's score, we actually beat the boss! Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to beat him?" She span around merrily on the spot. "I couldn't have done it without you, Tails!"

The two gave each other a high five and dropped back on the sofa. Both letting out sighs of mental exhaustion. "Victory brownie?" She asked.

"Brownie or brownies?"

She giggled and sat up, grabbing two brownies for the both of them. "One at a time. You'll be sick."

"Worth it. Sonic really missed out on these." He said as he twisted the brownie back and forth in his hand before taking a bite.

Her forgotten sadness soon came back to her as he mentioned Sonic's absence. The blue hedgehog would never sit down and have a gaming session with her. She couldn't see what she was doing wrong to repel him away.

Did Tails know? After all, he was Sonic's best friend. If their relationship was anything like her own with Cream, Tails would be Sonic's walking, breathing diary. "Tails?" She turned to the boy, her face now serious and slightly pained. "Does Sonic ever talk about me? Anything he finds annoying about me that makes him stay away?"

Oh boy. He knew that was coming at some point. Honestly, Sonic didn't talk a lot about girls in general. Well, not to him anyway. If Amy did fall into topic, he usually deterred the conversation away from her. Case in point, when it came to Sonic's feelings for her, Tails was just as confused.

"Err..." He looked aimlessly around the room, uncertain where to look. "Honestly. He doesn't really talk about you." His words only saddened her. "Uh, no wait... That came out wrong. I meant to say that Sonic doesn't tell me anything when it comes to his feelings for you."

"So you do think he has feelings for me?" She looked to him with hopeful, doe eyes.

Oh geez, he really wasn't helping his bro out. Tails impersonated the hedgehog by scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "I can't really speak for Sonic but... I guess I can offer some advice?"

Amy appeared to be baffled to receive relationship advice from the eleven year old but agreed nonetheless.

Sitting back rather uncomfortably, Tails looked to the pink hedgehog. Her bright smile was really not helping him feel less awkward. "Sonic's not a romantic kinda guy. He doesn't seem to know what to do with himself whenever talk of romance comes up or... You know, when you try and give him affection."

The pink hedgehog looked away, exhaling a gloom filled breath. "So you're saying I should just stop trying to give him affection?" She asked, both a genuine question and slight offended statement.

He found he too was uncomfortable in such personal topics. "What I'm trying to say is, change your approach. If Sonic's uncomfortable with loving affection, he's gonna want to avoid that kind of attention. If you approach him as just a friend, he'll treat you as a friend."

"But I don't want him to see me as just his friend!" The girl said, exasperated. She sighed, letting out some of her frustration. "I've been chasing that hedgehog for seven years. I'd given anything for him to notice me."

"And you can!" He sat up and faced her. "If you get Sonic to see you as a friend, he'll want to spend more time with you. Spending more time with him could lead to you both building a better bond and who knows? Maybe one day, he might feel the same way?"

He had a point. Toning down on her affection and allowing Sonic to feel comfortable around her could aid their relationship to develop into a beautiful romance that she craved for.

"Do you really think that'll work?" She asked the fox.

Tails shrugged. "I can't say I know _everything_ about Sonic but from what I can figure out, the thought of a relationship probably makes him feel... Tied down."

"But that's not how a relationship should make anyone feel!" She clasped her hands together and fantasised about love. "When I think of how I feel for Sonic, I don't want to hold him back. I want to build him up, let him be the best he can be, I want to learn from him and for him to learn from me." She looked down at her lap and smile bittersweet. "Even if he just told me that he just wants to stay friends, I'd accept it." She looked back at the fox. "Love does not claim anybody. It sets the lover free."

Tails raised his eyebrow. "So you want Sonic to return that love but also give him freedom?" Surely a relationship involved commitment, ergo denying freedom, right?

"I want him to be his true self with me, grow with me and together, share the world's adventures."

"... So you don't want a relationship with him?" This love thing was more complicated than he thought.

Amy giggled and looked down at her romper. "In an ideal world, Sonic would want to be with me for the rest of our lives. But in reality, we both know Sonic isn't one to settle down. I accidentally fell in love with the wind so I'll continue to chase the wind until the wind stops."

The fox continued to stared at her in complete bewilderment. She was willing to sacrifice her own happiness just so Sonic could be happy? Remain as nothing more than a friend or potentially end up being in some form of non committed relationship with him? Was that considered noble or idiotic.

He wasn't going to dare himself to ask.

"Well. Until you manage to catch the wind, you'll have my support." He smiled at her.

"Aw really?" She gushed. She pulled him into a friendly hug. "Thank you, Tails. You're the best!"

Not knowing what to do with himself, the fox left his hands beside his body as Amy's wrapped around his shoulders. "You're welcome." He smiled.

Pulling away from the fox, Amy picked up the controller once more and turned back to the young boy. "So, wanna go again?"

Smirking, the fox picked up his own controller. "You're so on!"

* * *

With daylight shying away and nightfall taking over, the duo continued to face each other in TomatoPotamus2, oblivious to the time. So oblivious, they were unaware of Sonic returning to the workshop. He made his way upstairs and into the living room.

"Hey Tails. You still gamin--" He froze when he saw Amy was still within the sleeping quarters of the workshop. That she was in the workshop, period. He gave the fox one job. That clearly seemed too much to ask.

Although they seemed to be having a good time together. Neither of them realised he was there. "Uh, guys?" He leaned over and got in the way of the screen.

Amy looked at him and rather than jumping for joy to see him, she glared. "What are you doing? Get out the way." She shooed him to the side and continued their game.

Confused yet amused by how focused they were, Sonic watched from the side. He first turned to his friends, seeing both of their mouths covered in chocolate. His eyes then looked to the basket on the coffee table, discovering where they had gotten the edible face paint, also known as brownies, adorned on their mouths.

Now looking to the screen, he was puzzled by the unfamiliar bonus screen. "Huh?" He leaned over once more, blocking the screen again from Tails and Amy and causing them to lose the game. "I don't remember playing that level..." Feeling leering eyes on him, Sonic turned to face his friends. "What?"

"You just cost us the game." Tails complained, frowning at the hedgehog.

"Sorry." He smiled sheepishly. "You guys realise it's dark out, don't ya?"

Tails and Amy looked to the window, seeing how dark it was outside. Amy gasped and jumped up. "Oh gosh! How long have we been playing?"

The fox looked down at his communicator on his wrist. "About four hours."

"Heh, wow."Amy giggled. "I guess time really does fly when having fun." She smiled at the young male. "We should totally do this again, Tails. I had a blast!"

"So did I. And thanks for helping me with, you know. That thing." He said, referring to the new high score.

"Anytime." She grinned at Sonic, seeing he was looking back at forth from her and Tails, trying to figure out what they were talking about. "Anyway, I'd better get going."

"I can run you home if you want me to Ames?" Sonic suggested.

Amy's eyes lit up with excitement. Finally, her chance to be alone with Sonic. She could envision it now. Sonic taking her in his arms, running at super speed, he'd turn to her and declare his love for her and they'd share their very first kiss.

"Amy?"

"Huh?" She quickly came out of her daydream.

"Do you want me to run you home?"

"Oh!" The conversation she had with Tails came to mind. To keep Sonic comfortable around her, she had to keep him comfortable. No romantic gestures and no talks of romance. She appeared nonchalant and nodded to her crush. "Sure, thanks Sonic."

"Alright." He grinned. "First, you might wanna clean your face." He squinted his eyes and leaned closer to the girl. "Unless that's a beard in the making."

Wiping her mouth, she realised she had brownie crumbs and chocolate around her lips. She gasped and ran off to the bathroom.

With the pink hedgehog in the process of cleaning her face, Sonic turned to fox and grinned, raising his eyebrow in the process. "So Amy got lost on her way out of here?"

"I told her to wait for you. Ended up having someone to play TomatoPotamus2 with. You face your own problems for a change and I got to play with the best player in the region. Win, win."

Sonic scoffed. "Best player? Amy? C'mon. She's probably good but the best? Hehe--"

Tails loaded the high scores onto the screen. After Tails nodded towards the TV for Sonic to see, the blue boy was left flabbergasted to see his high score had been beaten by the both of them. His competitive streak ignited. "Nah... Not happening. You're both going down!" He grabbed the third controller above the console, below the TV.

"Hm, I don't know. ProdigyRose has a few tricks up her sleeve. Are you sure you can beat her? Especially when her score is now sixty thousand points ahead of yours?"

"Piece of cake." The hedgehog leered at the screen and signed himself in.

"And there's my own score to beat." He placed his finger on his chin and pretended to ponder. "Hm, I think I'm about... forty thousand points ahead of you?" He smirked. It felt good to be ahead of the cocky blue blur for once.

Sonic growled at his best friend's boasting. He was beginning to realise that being the guy left behind wasn't much fun at all.

Walking back into the testosterone filled room, Amy paused at the door, mentally questioning what she had walked back into. "Uh, are you not taking me now?"

"I am." Sonic stated with a newfound pep in his voice. He looked over his shoulder at the girl. "After I destroy you both on TomatoPotamus2!"

Her surprised expression quickly changed to a cocky grin. "Translation; I'm gonna have to move in until you can figure out how we beat your score?" She giggled and sat besides Tails again.

"Pfft. Puh-lease. By the time we've completed all the levels, I will have tripled both your scores!" He grinned to himself.

Amy and Tails exchanged smug faces. "All the levels? So you mean all twenty eight?" Amy faked her astonishment.

"Exactly!" His friends were chuckling away behind him, making him uneasy. "What's so funny?" He turned to look at the pair.

Determined to knock the blue hedgehog off his high horse once again, Tails and Amy grabbed their controllers and sat back in their intensely concentrated positions on the sofa. "There's way more levels than twenty eight, dude." Tails laughed alongside Amy as they started the game over again.

From that day forward, their gaming sessions became a regular thing. No matter his level of skill, Sonic remained third place to Tails and Amy.

And with Sonic's determination to be number one and Amy's enjoyment to be close to Sonic preventing her from sharing her skills with him, Tails found he was no longer needing to be the middle man in their relationship.


End file.
